


More Questions, Some Answers

by PlzdontcallmeVal (vlh114)



Series: A Question of Immortality [2]
Category: Barduil - Fandom, The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-12 17:10:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13551864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vlh114/pseuds/PlzdontcallmeVal
Summary: Luke and Lee continue their conversation...





	More Questions, Some Answers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wenderful52](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wenderful52/gifts).



Not a week after talking to Lee Pace about Bard and Thranduil’s future together Luke Evans was sitting on the steps of his trailer watching and waiting for Lee to return to his.  Luke hadn’t lost any sleep over it but found his mind wandering back to the subject at odd and sometime inconvenient moments, like when he was supposed to be running over the rooftops of a burning Dale.  He smiled as he recalled how much he thought Lee embodied the spirit of the elf king especially when he was dressed in full costume and practicing with his swords.  “Lee!” Luke called, waiving the other man over after he’d spotted him coming out from between two trailers farther down the row.

Still wearing Thranduil’s wig but otherwise dressed in the standard issue brown dressing gown the cast had been issued, Lee flicked some strands of blond hair over his shoulder and approached Luke, “What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you’d thought anymore about Bard and Thranduil.”

As if embarrassed to admit it or checking to see who was around before answering, Lee looked away for a moment before turning back to Luke, “I have.”

“Well…” Luke prompted.

Instead of answering Lee asked, “Have you?”

“You know I have.”

“What did you come up with?”

“Besides turning Bard into a vampire?”

“Vampire Bard?”

Luke shrugged, “Immortal.”

“Right.”  Lee paused before asking, “Are there vampires in Middle Earth?”

“I’m not sure.  I would think not.”

“We could find someone to ask,” Lee looked around hoping to see Richard Armitage returning to his trailer.

While Luke had no claim to Lee’s affection he did wish the other would concentrate on him if only for a moment.  He thought of a way to hint to Lee of his interest, “I’d prefer to keep this between _us_.”

Something in Luke’s voice, the way he emphasized the word ‘us’, caught Lee’s attention.  Luke was watching him with wide eyes and smiling.  “Oh.  Ohhhhh.  Okay.”

Had Luke accomplished what he wanted to do with one sentence?  It seemed that he had but he wanted to be sure, “Okay?”

He had to admit he’d never thought of Luke as anything more than a friend but Richard didn’t seem to be catching the hints Lee had been tossing his way so why not give Luke a chance?  “Okay.”

Luke scooted over so Lee could sit next to him on the metal stair, “Okay.  So, I was also thinking about the rings of power.”

“What about them?”  Lee felt warmed by Luke’s closeness; he liked the feeling.

“Why doesn’t Thranduil have one?”

“If I remember correctly Gandalf has it.”

That did not make any sense to Luke.  “Gandalf?  Why does he have it?”

“No idea.”

“How did he get it?”

Lee only shrugged in response.

Luke dropped the subject, “Anyway, like we said the other day maybe Elrond and Galadriel could help out.  Do you know if Elrond has any special powers?”

“No special powers but his family is the only family of elves that can chose to have a mortal life.”

“I remember that from Lord of the Rings when what’s-her-name chose Aragorn and Elrond warned her that she would die.”

“Arwen,” Lee was happy he remembered her name, usually he couldn’t think of it either.  “Yeah, but she’d been immortal for so long that she lingered on and went nuts after he died.”

“That’s not good.  Thranduil would definitely go nuts.”

“Yeah, but how did Elrond’s family get that ability?”

“And,” Luke continued Lee’s thought, “if they can chose mortality maybe the person who gave them that ability can grant Bard immortality.”

“Exactly what I was thinking.”

“Now we just have to find out who that was.”

*********************************************************************************

Meanwhile, in an underground kingdom far, far away a king and his love were having tea when the king felt something strange.

“What’s wrong?” the king’s love asked him.

Before answering the king gently dabbed at the corner of his mouth with his napkin.  “Nothing.”

Bard the bowman, dragonslayer and former King of Dale said, “You bristled,” as he put his tea cup down.

“I never bristle,” Thranduil, King of Eryn Lasgalen denied.

“You did.  I saw you.”

Knowing that his love would not let the subject rest until he had an answer the king said, “I felt something.”

“What did you feel?”

“It’s hard to explain.”

“Try.”

“It felt like something or someone had touched me.”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?  But there is no one here but us.”

“I see that.”

“A spirit?”

“Unlikely.”  Another chill ran down Thranduil’s spine.  “Listen.  Do you hear that?”

“I hear nothing.”

Thranduil cocked his head to listen again but the sound had stopped, “Someone was speaking.”

“I heard nothing.”

Though the cold did not bother him Thranduil moved to the window where a beam of sunlight was shining through the glass pane, “I must admit to you that I have had this feeling quite a bit lately.”

“How often is ‘quite a bit’?”  Bard went to stand by his love.

“Quite often throughout the day.”

“For how long?”

“I could not say.”

“I know that it’s hard to keep track of time here but surely you know if it’s been a few days or several weeks.”

“Several weeks then.”

“Weeks? And you’re just telling me about this now?”

“I have been trying to figure out why it is happening.”

“And what have you come up with?”

“I am at a loss to explain it.”

“You had strange feelings when that man came several years back.”

“I remember.”

“Is what you felt then the same as what you’re feeling now?”

“Not at all.”

“How is it different?”

“You were there…”

“Humor me.”

“Then I felt lightheaded and tired.”

“Lightheaded?  I don’t recall it that way.”

“I hid it so as not to worry you.”

“Don’t do things like that.  You promised not to keep things from me.  Don’t tell me that you’re reverting back to your old ways.”

“I am sorry, my love.”  Thranduil took Bard’s hand and led him out the door to the forest path where they would walk every day after their tea.

The leaves swirled around Bard’s feet when a gentle breeze blew down the path.  Bard kicked t the leaves while he addressed his partner, “I do remember you feeling quite tired back then.  Did you experience any other symptoms I should know about?”

Thranduil shook his head, his hair flowing smoothly with the action and the breeze, “No.”

“You felt better after he left.”

“I did.”

“Maybe he’s come back.”  Bard sat on a tree stump to the left of the path as he tried to recall the past.  “What was his name?”

“Tolkien.”

“He was a historian or professor of some kind.  I don’t remember which.”

“I believe he was both.  He said he came from across the sea.”

“He certainly asked a lot of questions and you answered almost all.”

“The question you are thinking of he did not need an answer to.”

“You gave him access to the library.”

“Yes but the answer to the question of your immortality cannot be found there.”

“It didn’t take much to convince him not to write about my living on.”

“He was a very amiable fellow.”

“But let’s get back to what you’re feeling now.”

Thranduil did not want to talk about what he was feeling yet.  His mind was elsewhere, “I do not think your historian came from across the sea.”

“He’s not my historian and why not?  He did mention having stopped in the shire.  A traveler has to pass through there if he’s coming east from the sea.”

“He knew nothing of elves.  The Undying Lands are across the sea.  If he had come from there he would have all the knowledge he required about elves and our history.”

“That’s true.  But if he didn’t come from across the sea where did he come from?”

“I have no idea.”

“And where did he go?”

“I imagine that he returned to where he had come from.”

Bard rolled his eyes.  “He spent some time in Erebor.”

“In Gondor as well.  He stayed with us long enough to learn our language.”  By ‘our language’ Thranduil meant Sindarin and the other elvish languages.

“He did stay a very long time.  You’re tiredness disappeared when he did.”

“That is true.”

“He’s back then.”  Bard stood so they could continue their walk.

“This feeling is different.  When I hear the voices it is like someone is whispering and I cannot distinguish what they are saying but somehow I know they are talking about me.”

“That is very odd.”

“It is indeed.”

************************************************************************************

Inside Luke’s trailer he and Lee were bent over Luke’s laptop reading about Elrond’s family.  “So,” Luke said as he looked at Lee, “we would both have to die.”

“Bard and Thranduil would have to die.”  Luke was so close; Lee never realized how blue his eyes were until that moment.

“Right, and hope that,” Luke scrolled down the screen to find the name he was looking for, “Mandos and Eru Iluvatar would grant them a life together.”

“Problem,” Lee pointed out, “Beren and Luthien came back as mortal.”

“That is a problem.”  Luke bit the inside of his cheek as he thought.  “Thranduil could sing a lovely song like Luthien did and ask Eru Iluvatar for immortality for the both of them.”

“He would do it but I don’t think Thranduil would be too happy about the ‘having to die part’.”

“Not even for Bard?”

“It would be a big risk for him.”

“It’s for love though.  He would do it for love.” Luke was sure.  “What else can they do?”  Both men sat in silence for a few minutes before Luke said, “You know Bard deserves immortality more than Thranduil does anyway.”

“How’s that?”  Lee asked, one dark eyebrow raised.

“Bard is very heroic, you know…dragonslayer and all.”

“Thranduil faced dragons, remember the burns?”

“Right.”  Luke agreed after he remembered.  Then something occurred to him, “How long do you think Thranduil would live if faced with mortality?”

“How long did Arwen live?

Luke searched for a website for the answer, “She lived for only one year.”

“What?  I thought it said in the Simarillion that she lived for a lot longer, wandering the world in grief.”

Luke was impressed, “You read the Simarillion?”

“I tried to read it when I got this job but it was a little much for me.  I could swear though that Arwen lingered on for a long time after Aragorn died.  So we don’t know how much longer Thranduil would live if he became mortal.  What were you thinking anyway?”

“If Bard got immortality and Thranduil became mortal…”

“Then Thranduil would die and leave Bard all alone.”

“Yeah but not for a long time.”

“He’d still die someday.  I’m sure Thranduil would not like that.”

“No.  I don’t suppose he would.  And Bard wouldn’t like it much either.”

Silence settled over them again until Lee shivered.

“Cold,” Luke asked?

“Not really.  I’ve been getting this weird feeling lately.”

“What kind of feeling?”

“Don’t freak out but a friend of mine would describe it as somebody walking on my grave.”

“Thranduil’s grave?”

“Funny.”

“That is strange though.”

“I keep…”  Lee shook his head.

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Tell me.”

Lee sighed, “You’ll think I’m nuts.”

“I already think that.”

Lee nudged Luke with his shoulder, “ _You_ are so funny.”

Luke shouldered Lee back, “Tell me.”

“It’s just that sometimes I think I can hear people talking but I can’t hear exactly what they say and sometimes I think I feel somebody touch me but when I turn around there’s nobody there.”

“How long has that been going on?”

“Since coming here a few weeks ago.”

“Very strange.”

“I know, right?  You haven’t heard or felt anything weird?”

“No.  Maybe the set is haunted.”

Before they could discuss the matter further the horn signaling the break’s end sounded and it was time to return to the set.  As they were exiting the trailer Luke spotted Richard coming out of his, “You wanna go ask Richard if he’s had any strange feelings?”

Lee looked over to Richard then down at Luke, “No, I’m good.  But if we see Ian I’d like to ask him about the whole Bard and Thranduil dying to become immortal thing.”

“Sounds good to me.”  Luke wanted to take Lee’s hand but held back; there’d be time for hand holding (and much more) later…he hoped.

************************************************************************************

On their return along the forest path Thranduil remarked, “That is strange.”

“What is strange now?” Bard asked looking around for something in the forest that was out of place and finding nothing.

“A feeling of discovery and contentment.”

“Why is that strange?  Were you not content?”

Thranduil gave Bard’s hand a reassuring squeeze, “I am always deliriously happy with you, my love, but this is different.  I feel as if something special is at a beginning; that an answer has been found.”

“An answer to what question?”

“I do not know that exactly.  I can only say that I feel somewhat like I felt the day I realized that we could have a very long and happy life together.”

“Are you talking about the people you could hear talking before?”

“Yes.  I believe they have come to an understanding.”

“Good for them.”

“Yes.  Good for them.  May they live happily ever after.”

“Just like we are.”

“Yes, my love, just like we are.”


End file.
